Titanium Axe... what say you?

I have one of these and was actually surprised to find that it works really well. If performs best when snap-cutting more like you would with a machete, and the extremely high yield strength of titanium means that it's EXTREMELY resistant to dulling via plastic deformation, yet it abrades easily, so touchups are easy. Filing it is a little funky and the file bites well but kind of "skids" rather than gliding smoothly due to the very grippy galling nature of titanium, but it didn't clog the file at all, either. Sparks from thinning the factory geometry were WHITE HOT and melted holes in the athletic shirt I made the mistake of wearing while grinding it.

The current designs are very capable as it stands, but under-optimized for the material qualities, and I'm happy to say that I'm actually working with them right now to arrive at some forms that will really get the most out of the unique material properties--namely that for a given head weight it means you can have a much wider bit or larger poll than would be achievable in steel. If y'all liked my work on the WOOX axes I think you'll like what's cooking at the moment.

I was legitimately a skeptic originally but after getting to play around with 'em I'm genuinely excited about the potential unique use cases that they'll be able to have and the niches they'll uniquely be able to fill. It's really interesting stuff with tangible advantages for certain circumstances.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I have one of these and was actually surprised to find that it works really well. If performs best when snap-cutting more like you would with a machete, and the extremely high yield strength of titanium means that it's EXTREMELY resistant to dulling via plastic deformation, yet it abrades easily, so touchups are easy. Filing it is a little funky and the file bites well but kind of "skids" rather than gliding smoothly due to the very grippy galling nature of titanium, but it didn't clog the file at all, either. Sparks from thinning the factory geometry were WHITE HOT and melted holes in the athletic shirt I made the mistake of wearing while grinding it.

The current designs are very capable as it stands, but under-optimized for the material qualities, and I'm happy to say that I'm actually working with them right now to arrive at some forms that will really get the most out of the unique material properties--namely that for a given head weight it means you can have a much wider bit or larger poll than would be achievable in steel. If y'all liked my work on the WOOX axes I think you'll like what's cooking at the moment.

I was legitimately a skeptic originally but after getting to play around with 'em I'm genuinely excited about the potential unique use cases that they'll be able to have and the niches they'll uniquely be able to fill. It's really interesting stuff with tangible advantages for certain circumstances.
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Very cool...... Good luck.....looking forward to seeing this thread expand as you progress thru it..👍
 
Yeah between the fact that it's a cast material and its VERY different, but useful, properties compared to steel, I think there's a lot of niches for it to really shine, and it's gonna' be a lot of fun exploring that and seeing folks put the end designs through their paces.
 
It's cool, but it's certainly filling a very niche market. Only real solid purpose I see for it would be something like climbing and high altitude hiking. Those odd cases where you really want to shed every ounce you can.
 
Plenty of other use cases! Namely the material still gives shockingly good performance, and it removes a lot of constraints on the form able to be achieved within a certain weight. Contrastingly, if opting for weight savings over more material, it comes in handy for other tasks like pack-in camping or as a "just in case" tool with hiking where the chances of needing to use the tool are low, but if you have to you'll want a truly capable tool rather than the sad excuse for axes often marketed as survival tools. Even for just doing a walkabout of a fence line it can be a good application! Due to cost it'll certainly be a piece of specialty gear, but there are a lot of circumstances where you can arrive at a fully capable and optimized design that can go neck and neck with steel from a performance standpoint, just with a different distribution of material properties and associated strengths and weaknesses. It's just we're used to thinking in terms of circumstances for steel tools rather than titanium, so the applications don't leap out as obviously, and that was true for myself until I got my hands on one and actually put it through its paces. It's some very weird stuff if you're coming from an experience mostly with steel and aluminum.
 
I like the idear of it.

I have a titanium machete made by Mecha and ive used it a lot and been impressed by it. only bought it cause I thought it was cool...i started using it cause it works great.
 
SharpBits said:
I'll have to defer to your superior knowledge of these things. I would have never thought titanium would be valid choice for this use.
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"Big axe" finally got to Benjamin.

Honestly, he's so convincing regardless of the medium... I'd just assume buy it. The guy knows his steels that's for sure, he's sharpened a metric ton of it.
 
I genuinely had expected the edge to crumple when I reground the cheeks on mine (I've long been a Ti-doubter and had expected to be vindicated) but it continued to perform like steel, other than a piece of sand or grit causing a visible scratch in the cheek that ironed back out smooth with a quick rub of a pocket stone. The low abrasion resistance means you really want as clean of wood as you can get and have to be more mindful of potential abrasion than you do with steel, but that's really just a difference of mindset.

In moderately clean wood it was indistinguishable from steel other than the weirdly light weight for its size. If you try "letting the weight do the work" like with a steel axe it'll do "okay" and not impress, but if you throw a rolling snap into your strokes like you should with machetes, "casting the mass at the target" with more "drive" behind the tool it bites VERY well. I think that's possibly the dynamic that folks who swear by titanium hammers likely talk about when they talk about the driving efficiency: titanium seems to like SPEED for getting the job done, and a whip-like "crack" of your arm is the lowest energy way to deliver that kind of a blow. Once I figured that out I actually told the owner at Wrango that I think they're leaving performance on the table with the current "speed bump" at the bevel shoulder. I took mine down to a nice thin convex deep into the cheek like Rinaldi does on their stock grinds and polished it up and it performs like a champ.

It's definitely a more expensive material but there's some real value there, and it's why I'm so excited to be working with them right now. I think we'll be able to make some genuinely useful tools unlike anything that's been seen on the market to date.
 
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Seal of Approval
 
I suspected that increased speed would be needed. To my mind, that would imply more effort for the same amount of work accomplished. Maybe it is the same total effort, just applying the force in different manner?
 
SharpBits said:
I suspected that increased speed would be needed. To my mind, that would imply more effort for the same amount of work accomplished. Maybe it is the same total effort, just applying the force in different manner?
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No not at all--it's more a matter of technique. You're simply whipping the mass more. If you've ever seen someone try swinging a machete like an axe you'll have seen the pathetic results on woody targets because there's simply not enough mass to give the impulse needed to do the work. With conventional axes you're using the mass like a battery storing your potential energy and input force that, upon hitting the target, is using its inertia to continue pushing into the material and cutting it. With a machete, you "cast" the mass of the tip at the target in a rolling snap that gives high tip velocity and is delivering high force over a much shorter period. If you use a machete like an axe or hatchet you get almost no work done and actually use more energy in the process, while zippy, snappy cuts give more velocity at lower total input speed because you're able to accelerate the tool much easier. And so Wrango's current lightweight models perform best with similar use--make a squeeze of the fingers, snap of the wrist and elbow, and drive from the shoulder. It's a rolling snap that rapidly unfurls the mass of the head like a bullwhip with very little energy expenditure--it's just a very different approach than one would typically use with an axe or hatchet.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
No not at all--it's more a matter of technique. You're simply whipping the mass more. If you've ever seen someone try swinging a machete like an axe you'll have seen the pathetic results on woody targets because there's simply not enough mass to give the impulse needed to do the work. With conventional axes you're using the mass like a battery storing your potential energy and input force that, upon hitting the target, is using its inertia to continue pushing into the material and cutting it. With a machete, you "cast" the mass of the tip at the target in a rolling snap that gives high tip velocity and is delivering high force over a much shorter period. If you use a machete like an axe or hatchet you get almost no work done and actually use more energy in the process, while zippy, snappy cuts give more velocity at lower total input speed because you're able to accelerate the tool much easier. And so Wrango's current lightweight models perform best with similar use--make a squeeze of the fingers, snap of the wrist and elbow, and drive from the shoulder. It's a rolling snap that rapidly unfurls the mass of the head like a bullwhip with very little energy expenditure--it's just a very different approach than one would typically use with an axe or hatchet.
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I knew what you meant by the snap, but your explanation is very good. It still seems like your "career" of axe swinging will be over sooner, much like baseball pitchers and their elbows wearing out. That snap takes a toll on the body.
 
SharpBits said:
I knew what you meant by the snap, but your explanation is very good. It still seems like your "career" of axe swinging will be over sooner, much like baseball pitchers and their elbows wearing out. That snap takes a toll on the body.
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Not even remotely. Remember, my background is even more in machetes than it is in axes--I can assure you that it is simply a different technique and not any more demanding on the body. It's not like throwing a baseball. It's like casting a fishing rod. Compounding small motions of each individual joint that results in large motions at the end.
 
I guess it's one of things you need to try in person to know. I'll take your word on it as a trusted source. Color me surprised that titanium suits this role.
 
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